Chapter 4

Rob

I have ten minutes to pick a present before the store, and their wrapping department closes. I fucking suck at doing it myself. My Christmas gifts look like total shit under the tree because they’re half covered with extra tape that stuck to the wrong spot of the wrapping paper that I couldn’t move, or I’d shred it and have to start all over again. There’s a lot of things I can do, but wrapping gifts wasn’t one of them. I’m a hard-working businessman and don’t have time be making late-night runs to a twenty-four-hour Walgreens for expensive wrapping paper that I’ll turn into a mess once I start attempting to wrap it.

Once I pay for my items, I walk over to the wrapping line which is long as fuck. I get there just in time for the lady to put the red rope behind my ass. Thank fuck for that. There are about a dozen of people in two separate lines with two employees wrapping. From my view, I can see the jackass guy smiling at his coworker and talking instead of wrapping like he should be. I look around the woman in front of me to see the other employee to see if he or she is moving their ass or equally bullshitting. Wow, that was a huge mistake. As soon as my eyes land on the woman wrapping, I know I’m fucked. A low rumble rips through my chest as if my body is ready to claim his mate. I feel like a beast. How is that even possible? One look at this woman and I want her in every damn way. 

“That guy needs to stop smiling at her and get his ass moving,” the lady in front of me complains. I’m in agreement with her, but I want him to stop for more than just that. She’s not his to even look at. She belongs to me.  I step around and angle myself staring at her, taking her all in.

I concentrate on her pretty face; instead of envisioning what I’d like to do to his. Hers is round and soft looking with her long blonde hair falling out of her ponytail and framing her face angelically. Strange because as angelic and sweet as she looks, my thoughts about what I want to do to her are fucking sinful as fuck. Her face is blocked again by the person in front of me. I can’t see her, so I pretend to be a little exhausted and lean on the wall to steal another glance. My sudden movement catches her notice, and she lifts her gaze to me. A gasp escapes her lips, and I'm holding back as best as I can before I drag her from behind the counter and flip her over my shoulder, taking her as the perfectly wrapped gift.

I raise my brow, then wink at the first woman to drive me fucking insane by doing nothing more than existing. Her eyes are wide and soft with a thin line of black eyeliner, making them pop. She’s forced to drag them away from mine when fuckboy taps her shoulder. He has no business touching her. She’s mine. I shake my head because my thoughts aren’t sane, rational or even healthy. Screw it, sane is motherfucking boring.

She’s working hard wrapping the small box in her hand, but she smiles up at the man she’s wrapping the present for. Her mouth spreads wide, and I watch, hypnotized. She parts her lips, and the first thought that comes through is how much I’d love to see it wrapped around my cock. I can’t believe I’m thinking of fucking her mouth, but as I try to push the idea away, her blue eyes meet mine for a split second. The reaction is instant and violent. I want to walk up to her and demand she come home with me so I can mark her soul with mine. Again, I try to push my mind back to reality because I’ll scare the fuck out of her, but my head refuses to get off the fact that pumping my seed into her is a priority.

The man takes his present from her and gives her a card. I growl, holding my gifts a little too tight. He leaves with a wink, then her co-worker smiles at her and says something I can’t hear. An overwhelming unexplainable urge to pound his face in runs through me. There’s only one person in front of me in her lane, but her coworker slower than her and his line is now twice as long. People then got behind me to even it out. Maybe if he kept his eyes where they belong, then he’d get through it faster.

The other lady grabs her two packages and leaves. Now it’s my turn. I walk nonchalantly up to the young woman. Doing my best to remain cool and yet internally, my soul is feral and ready to dominate her world. I look over her face, trying to read her. I’ve no damn experience with the hunt but instinct kicks in.

“Hello, I’m Rob. What’s your name?” I ask, but it comes off a lot more demanding. 

She smiles, but she doesn’t give me her name. “Her name is Becky,” the jackass next to her says. She cocks an angry brow at him then looks back at me. I’m going to fuck him up in a minute. Her name tag has a temporary label over it, reading “Rebecca.” I try to ignore the way her tits press against the soft, green sweater. The urge to reach out and drag her to me becomes harder and harder to resist.

“Hello, Rebecca.”

She finally looks back up at me and turns her smile on me. I’m a goner. I want to know if she’ll marry me. What the fuck is going on with me? “Hello, Rob.” She’s soft-spoken, and I drink it in. “Don’t listen to him.”

“Oh, I wasn’t. Never take advice from a man that wants the same thing as you. He’s going to lie, cheat and steal to get it.” I turn my eyes on buddy boy and scowl, letting him know that I’m onto him. She takes the gift and examines it, clearly curious why I have an expensive woman’s scarf and gloves. I look up at her and say, “It’s for my mom.”

I hear that fucker mutter a “momma’s boy,” but that shit doesn’t bother me. The fucker is jealous. We make eye contact several times as she slips it into a box then asks me what paper I would like. I respond, “Pick the one you think is the prettiest.” She picks one and does her best to steady her hands. I tip her chin up to look at me as she wraps up my mother’s present perfectly, and I ask, “So what time do you get off?”

“As soon as we finish the lines,” she answers without hesitation, but she returns her focus back on the ribbon.

I smile at her, nodding before I add, “Good, I’ll be waiting for you.” She freezes, a little nervous so I add, “Just to talk, of course.”

“I don’t even know you,” she remarks nervously biting her lip. I reach forward and pull her bottom lip from her teeth.

“You will.” For the first time in my life, I have no “give a fucks” when it comes to a woman. I want her, and I will find a way to make her mine. I give her my business card as a start. She can look me up before she gets out. “I promise I have no intention of doing anything bad to you, sweetheart.”

I take my package that’s perfectly wrapped, letting my fingers glide over hers in the process and watching the way she shivers just a bit as a blush steals over her face. I would wait for her right here, but the people are leading us out of the store and locking it behind us. I step up to her again, and say, “I’ll wait outside, Rebecca.”

My condo is only two blocks away, but I decide to freeze my balls off and stay put outside the door. The line still isn’t moving even though she finished her lane and has taken on some of his people too. I can’t go back in there and see what’s going on, but I’m pissed. I spot a taxi at the light, so I flag him down. He pulls up just past the store, and I jump in. “Can you hold it right here? I’m waiting for someone to get out of work. I promise it’ll be worth it.”

“Sure, but I’ve got to keep the meter running,” he informs me. 

“No problem, John,” I say, looking at his cabbie license. He smiles, then turns back to face forward.

It takes another twenty minutes when they finally usher the last group of people out. Then five minutes after she appears, bundled up in a dark grey peat coat and black and red plaid scarf. and looking around. When she doesn’t see what she’s looking for her face falls. I step out of the cab with my gift and call out to her, “Rebecca.” She turns my way and smiles.

“I thought you were full of shit. I was going to leave you a rotten email,” she says with a smile. She may come off playfully, but I can see that she was semi-serious.

“Give me one second, baby,” I say, leaning into the cab and handing the driver a hundred. “Thanks.” He nods and goes on his way with a smile. I spin back around with my gift and, without hesitation, take her hand in mine.

“I don’t think this is a good idea. I should go home,” she stammers out. She doesn’t come off afraid of me, but of all the possibilities of tonight. I don’t want to sleep with her tonight. Well, I do, but I won’t push her.

“You probably should, but I can tell you really want to, and I sure as fuck don’t want you to leave me.” I lead her down the street. It’s almost ten at night, and the sidewalks are empty.

We’re almost there when she asks, “Where are you taking me?”

“Home.”

“Since you don’t know I live, you must mean yours,” she remarks.

“Whatever way you want to look at it, but we’re going home,” I tell her. I’m fucking insanely obsessed with her, and it’s nuts because I don’t know more than she works in a clothing store.

“I’m so glad my parents are going on vacation tomorrow and not at the same time?” I blurt out, thinking about how I’m going to miss even a moment with her.

“Why is that? Do they live with you?” she asks, raising her brow up at me suspiciously.

I tighten my grip on her fingers, then lift her hand to my lips and kiss her bared wrist. “No way. If they weren’t leaving, I wouldn’t need a gift for my mother so soon and wouldn’t have run into you. And I’m screwed because I have to drive them to the airport in the morning which means I’m going to have to leave for a few hours.”

“You live over here?”

“Yes, right here.” I point to the large building.

“Wow, really. I should be going,” she falters. I shake my head because I can’t let her go just yet—or ever. Before I can stop myself, I pin her to the side of the building and slam my mouth onto hers in a deep dominating kiss. I cup her face, rubbing my thumbs across her rosy red cheeks, feeling the heat through my gloves. I slide my hands lower to her neck then let my lips follow and back to claim her lips again. We lose control; her hands sliding into my hair and my hands moving to her ass, deepening the passionate kiss.

“Take me inside,” she demands breathlessly.